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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Activity Day - Africa

Today at Activity Day the girls and I traveled to Africa. I shared a little with them about my upcoming trip to Ethiopia. We colored our map to show the dessert, grasslands and jungle/rainforest regions of Africa.

We made an imitation “talking drum”. I used my hot glue gun to attach the bottoms of two styrofoam cups. Then the girls used masking tape to cover the outside of their drums (because we were all out of animal gut).

To add a bit of authenticity, I used some distressing ink make the outside look more worn and “earthy”.

We looked at some of the customs, jewelry and music of the various African cultures. We talked about the different bead work in some African cultures and decided to make our own. Give a bunch of little girls a tub of beads and they are good to go! Due to time constraints everyone made a bracelet instead of the planned necklace.

We added our Cairo, Egypt stamp to our travel passports and headed back home. This was our last class for this school year. Next year I’ll not be teaching, instead I’ll be serving on the board. We’re already looking forward to another fun year!

Books we used:African Crafts; by Lynne GarnerAfrica for Kids; by Harvey CrozeHands on Africa; by Yvonne Y. MerrillExplore Africa; by Bobbie KalmanFood and Recipes of Africa; by Theresa M. BeattyBaby Animals of Africa; by Henrietta BichonnierAfrica; by David PetersenEthiopia; by Ann HeinrichsE is for Ethiopia; by Ashenafi GudetaTraditions from Africa; by Vivien Golding